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Gang that stole electricity bills to open bank accounts, siphon money busted
New Delhi
New Delhi
Delhi Police have arrested a man and his aide who posed as the co-director of a luxury hotel near IGI airport and got the hotel director to transfer Rs 4.8 lakh to their account.
Police also claimed that with the twin arrests, they had busted a gang that used to steal electricity bills of people to prepare fake rent agreements or affidavits and then use it to procure Aadhaar and SIM cards that were in turn used to open several bank accounts.
The two men, Rashid Khan, 30, and his aide Tejpal, 47, had cheated at least 100 men in the past six months up to the tune of Rs 1 crore. The stolen money was continuously transferred in at least 15 different bank accounts to avoid detection, police said.
Deputy commissioner of police (Delhi airport) Sanjay Bhatia said that they stumbled upon the syndicate when an FIR was registered on the complaint of a director of a luxury hotel at Aerocity reporting that he received an e-mails iin the name of his co-director requesting him to transfer Rs 4.8 lakh to a bank account.
“Since the mail was sent from an e-mail ID on his colleague’s name, he transferred the money but soon realised that he had been cheated. During investigation we got details of the bank account to which the money was sent. We came to know that the money was further circulated in at least 15 interlinked accounts,” Bhatia said.
The DCP said they got mobile numbers linked with these accounts and teams were sent to Panipat, Gurugram and Noida, where all the addresses used to procure the SIM cards or opening bank accounts were found to be fake. “Further surveillance led us to Fatehganj near Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. A police team was sent there and following a raid, both Khan and Tejpal were arrested,” Bhatia said.
“During interrogation, Khan said that he and his aide used to steal electricity bills from letter boxes in areas like Sashtri Park, Gandhi Nagar, Jasola Village and Govindpuri and then used them to prepare fake affidavits and rent agreements to get Aadhaar cards, which they used to open bank accounts and buy SIM cards,” Bhatia said.
